President Jair Bolsonaro today (25) signed a provisional measure (MP) that establishes “alternative labor measures” and the Emergency Employment and Income Maintenance Program in cases of public calamity. The MP is valid immediately and is limited to up to 120 days. To be valid permanently, it must be approved by the National Congress.
According to the government, the “alternative labor measures” and the Emergency Employment and Income Maintenance Program are necessary in the event of a new episode where there is a public calamity declared nationally or in a state or municipality, as happened with covid-19. or, more recently, with the floods in Bahia, Minas Gerais and the city of Petrópolis (RJ).
The text determines that the measures can be adopted by employees and employers and include the adoption of the telework regime, the anticipation of individual vacations, the granting of collective vacations, the use and anticipation of holidays, a differentiated system of bank of hours and the deferral of payment of the Severance Indemnity Fund (FGTS).
According to the government, the labor measures aim to preserve the employment and income of workers, as well as the sustainability of the labor market in situations of public calamity. “The Emergency Employment and Income Maintenance Program allows the proportional reduction of the working day and salary or the temporary suspension of the employment contract, through the conclusion of an agreement between employer and employee, with payment of the Emergency Employment Preservation Benefit. and income”, says the government.
The agreements will be carried out collectively, and individual negotiation is possible for workers whose income tends to be recomposed by the emergency benefit.
During the period of temporary employment guarantee, if the employer resigns, he must pay a fine equivalent to the salary that the employee would be entitled to, in the case of suspension of the contract, or equivalent to the proportion of the agreed working hours and salary reduction.
